Air shutdown stalls supermarket talks

George Raine, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published
4:00 am PDT, Friday, September 14, 2001

Contract negotiations between Safeway, Albertson's and union leaders of the United Food and Commercial Workers in Northern California have nearly stalled because two key members of the negotiating team are stranded as a result of the shutdown of U.S. commercial air travel.

Talks are continuing at the Oakland Airport Hilton Hotel, but the participants are discussing only noneconomic issues, said Ron Lind, a spokesman for the workers, who are members of eight locals of the union.

The order Tuesday by the Federal Aviation Administration to close down the nation's air transportation system after the terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon prevented many passengers from reaching their destinations. Among those stranded were David Blitzstein, director of negotiated benefits for the United Food and Commercial Workers, who is in Washington, D.C., and Richard Cox, chief spokesman for Safeway, who is in Denver.

Both have been unable to get to Oakland to resume negotiations because full flight schedules have not yet been reestablished.

"Things are moving slowly (at the negotiations) because there are people who are usually in attendance stuck elsewhere," said Stacia Levenfeld, spokeswoman for Albertson's in the San Leandro regional office.

The workers' contract has been extended twice by mutual agreement. The first extension was from Sept. 1 to Sept. 8, after negotiators passed the contract deadline with no agreement.

The contract was extended again on Sept. 8, to midnight Sept. 22. If there ultimately is a strike, it would not happen immediately because a time- consuming vote by members would have to take place first, negotiators say.

The workers, whose pay ranges from about $7.50 to $18 per hour, seek a wage increase of between 75 cents and $1.50 per hour each year for the next three years of a new contract, depending on job classification. Many workers at the lower end of the wage scale are part-time employees.

Safeway and Albertson's, although competitors, have formed a "mutual strike assistance agreement" to negotiate the contract terms and prepare for a possible strike. In July, the two grocery chains settled a contract with grocery store workers in the Sacramento Valley, who accepted an increase of 50 cents per hour annually over three years, for a total of $1.50 per hour.

The union anticipated that Safeway and Albertson's would make the same wage increase offer extended in the Sacramento Valley, which the workers say is inadequate in the more expensive Bay Area. However, Lind, the union spokesman, said yesterday that the owners' counterproposal was less than that.

Lind said the offer was 45 cents per hour in the first year, and another 40 cents in both the second and third years for most workers. He said the grocers proposed increases of 20 cents per hour for three consecutive years for courtesy clerks.

"The reaction? It was like hitting a beehive with a stick," said Lind. "They are not very happy. We have been telling (negotiators for the grocery chains) for weeks that the Sacramento settlement will not fly, and this proposal was a slap in the face."

David Bowlby, a spokesman for Pleasanton's Safeway, confirmed those details of the grocers' proposal.

The grocers say their employee wages are nearly double what nonunion retail employees in the area earn. Also, benefits for full-time and part-time workers alike, and their dependents, include health care coverage. All premiums are paid by the supermarkets.